Kabul Bank Officials Cited In Secret Report For Stealing A Billion Dollars in Aid

While the United States and its allies continue to pour billions into Afghanistan, the widespread corruption continues unabated and unashamedly. The most recent such report is coming from the Department for International Development in England where it has found that hundreds of “nation-building” projects were completely fraudulent loans to conceal thefts.

As with the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration continues to soft pedal the widespread corruption to avoid a backlash among citizens who are facing massive cuts in services as their government spends wildly in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Libya. The beneficiaries are not just the corrupt Karzai brothers but a host of Afghan officials. Indeed, President Karzai shutdown an investigation into corruption and the Administration continued to support him and his government. He then proceeded to tax U.S. contributions to his country.

U.S. officials have long known, according to the article below, that “insiders at Kabul Bank used fraudulent loans to misappropriate $850m (£525m), representing 94 per cent of outstanding loans.”

None of this appears to matter of course as we continue to expend lives and treasure in a country where many areas have increasing turned to the Taliban and against the West.

Source: Independent